The present invention relates to instruments which are used to examine and to photograph the interior of an eye, and which are known as ophthalmoscopes and fundus cameras respectively. The present instruments are an improvement in those ophthalmoscopes and fundus cameras disclosed in my co-pending patent application Ser. No. 292,150, filed Sept. 25, 1972, entitled Wide-Angle Ophthalmoscope, the teachings of which are incorporated herein by reference.
In my earlier co-pending application, an ophthalmoscope and a fundus camera are disclosed which include optical fibers built into a contact lens in a circular pattern to form a single ring of optical fibers around the contact lens. The importance of maintaining a single circular pattern of fibers in a predetermined fixed orientation in relationship to the contact lens is emphasized. For a single ring of fibers having a numerical aperture of 0.66 or greater, it was found advantageous to orient the ring so that the fibers made an angle of 25.degree.-35.degree. with the axis of the lens. With an ophthalmoscope or fundus camera containing that single ring of high numerical aperture optical fibers, it is possible to illuminate 100.degree. of the fundus. However, the field of illumination can not be increased further when conventional optical fibers are utilized, without deleterious effects. It is of course desirable to increase the field of illumination, and accordingly increase the field of view that is possible without scanning.